A Different Path
by Moonstar00125
Summary: Destiny is a funny thing. The smallest change can have such a wide-ranging effect. And yet, fate will always find its way, despite destiny's choices. IOW: What if Roxanne hadn't been Megamind's kidnap victim? What if it had been a writer instead?
1. The First Incongruency

One day, not too long ago, on a busy Metro City street, two teenage girls, both pretty brunettes with blue eyes, both fifteen with great ambitions, brushed shoulders. That tiny bit of contact would change both their lives forever. In the story you know, Megamind, watching from above, chose to follow the slightly older girl, Roxanne Ritchi, junior news reporter. But in this story, in this world, he followed Maggie Madison, junior fiction author, instead.

A small choice between two beauties would change all of their lives forever.

***Break***

"Ollo, Maggie," Megamind greeted, swiveling around in his chair. "It seems we meet again!"

"I like your choice in laundry soaps," Maggie commented as the bag was lifted from her head and her hands tied behind her back. "Smells like...Classic?"

"Actually, it's Gain, Miss Madison," Minion corrected, and Maggie's face scrunched up in disgust.

"Please, Minion; don't call me that," Maggie pleaded. She had always hated the sound of her last name.

"Scream all you want, Meghan, but I'm afraid no one can hear you!" Megamind exclaimed, cupping his hand to his ear in anticipation. Maggie didn't make a sound, just smiled at her captor. He never ceased to amuse her. "Why isn't she screaming?" Megamind asked, turning to Minion.

"Would you mind, Miss Madison?"

"Stop calling me Miss Madison and I'll kiss him," Maggie joked.

"Like this," Megamind said before letting out a high-pitched scream to show her how it was done. "But that's a poor lady scre-EEEEEEEEH!" Megamind cried, clutching his hand where his brainbot had bit him. Maggie chuckled a little, trying not to show it.

"So where do you get all your Tesla coils and blinking dials?" Maggie asked, trying to readjust her glasses without using her hands.

"Actually most of it comes from an outlet store in—" Minion started, helping Maggie by pushing the young woman's glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

"Don't answer that!" Megamind cried, but Minion finished only a few seconds later with,

"—Romania."

"Don't!" Megamind cried, flying forward in his swivel chair and yanking Maggie's glasses off her face.

"That was rude!" she objected, though she was still smiling in amusement as Megamind talked right over top of her.

"She's using her talent of the written word on your weak little mind to make us spill our secrets for her...her...stories! Such tricks won't work on me, Miss Maggie," he warned, shaking her own glasses in her face while trying to look frightening.

"Please, as my friend Roxanne might say, talk slower," Maggie said, pretending to be flirtatious.

"Temptress!" Megamind accused, swiveling around her chair. Maggie smiled. She had been called many things in her life, but temptress had never been one of them.

"What secrets might you have?" Maggie asked. "After all, you _are_ extremely predictable!"

"Predictable!" Megamind exclaimed, clearly insulted. "You call _this_ predictable!" he demanded, throwing a lever.

"Alligators? Yes. Book three, Chapter eighteen, page 64, plot device nine!" Maggie exclaimed, counting off her use of one of Megamind's favorite tricks.

"What's this? BOOM, in your face!" he cried, unleashing a gun before Maggie's very (blind) eyes.

"No fear can be shown by the blind!"

"Look at this!"

"Don't see a thing!"

"Shocking!"

"Didn't see it coming, and I still don't!"

"OH, so SCARY!"

"OH, I'd better look out!"

"WHAT'S THIS DO!"

"Megamind, I'm serious!" Maggie finally called out, looking a little irritated. "It's a little hard to accurately deflate your ego when I can't see what you're throwing at me!" Megamind looked over at his captive and was a little surprised to find that he still held her glasses in his hands.

"Oops. How'd these get here?" he asked a little guiltily, shutting off his devices of death and crossing the room to set Maggie's glasses carefully back upon her face.

"Thank you," she said very politely as Megamind backed away, then squinted up at Megamind's head. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked, and Megamind tried to follow her gaze, but didn't see anything. "Megamind, I think it's poisonous!" Maggie yelled, and Minion screamed, but Megamind just turned round and round, trying to find what she was talking about.

Suddenly the spider scuttled down from his head to land on his nose, and Megamind screamed. "MINION, KILL IT!" he shouted, and Minion obediently smacked the spider, sending Megamind to the ground. Maggie flinched as Minion began to stomp on it. "IT BIT ME! I'M DYING, I'M—"

"It's a wolf-spider!" Maggie informed the villain, beginning to laugh. Megamind looked embarrassed as he stood up, brushing himself off with Minion's help.

"That wasn't very nice!" Megamind said in indignation.

"I'm sorry," Maggie apologized, still recovering. "I couldn't help myself!"

"Let's stop wasting time and call your boyfriend in tights, shall we?"

"Not my boyfriend!" Maggie insisted.

"Riiiight," Megamind sarcasticated before turning to Minion. "The screens, Minion, the screens!" the blue man called, and Maggie shook her head with a small smile. As with all his plans, this venture was, no doubt, destined to fail.

**Author Comments:**

**A new fanfic about a change of paths. IDK how else to describe it. So...any questions?**


	2. Call It Writer's Block

Maggie watched as the entire city appeared on the screen before them, Metro Man himself in the forefront. "MWAHAHAHA!" Megamind cackled maniacally.

"Megamind!" Metro Man cried as the crowd began to boo at the villain. Maggie was happy to watch from the sidelines.

"Bravo, Metro Man! Excellent deduction! A true feat of observational skills! Blue skinned supervillains are so common these days, it's hard to tell them apart, isn't it? BOOO! BOOO! Yes, I can play too, citizens of Metrocity! BOOO!"

"I should've known you'd try to crash the party!"

"Oh, I intend to do more than crash it!" Megamind announced. "This is a day you and Metrocity will not soon forget!"

"I think that's 'Metro City'!" Maggie called to the supervillain. "And if not, I suppose someone ought to fire my editor..."

"Maggie?" Metro Man cried as if in alarm. If it was real, he was a lot less intelligent than even Megamind gave him credit for. "You've kidnapped her again! This'll give you another life sentence, Megamind!"

"Oh, I'm quaking in my custom baby seal leather boots!" Megamind cried in mock terror before switching screens to show Maggie sitting in her usual seat of honor, her long hair down instead of in her usual ponytail, something she did only for very special occasions.

"Don't panic Maggie, I'm on my way!" Metro Man called.

"I'm not panicking," she pointed out. "Though I think the ropes are a little tight...that or Megamind needs to turn up the thermostat again."

"I told you, the furnace is broken again, I'll get to it! And in order to stop me, you'll have to find me first, Metro Man!"

"We're in the abandoned observatory!" Maggie called over Megamind's shoulder.

"No we're not!" Megamind shouted into the screen, cutting off Maggie's connection. "I have no idea what she's talking about, she's crazy, she's insane, she's so bonkers she knows the connection between a raven and a writing desk—"

"Hey! I may be crazy, but I don't think I'm Mad-Hatter crazy!" Maggie objected, though she was still smiling. They watched as Metro Man soared through the air, silent for only a moment.

"Metro Man approaching, Sir," Minion said, watching a blip on a screen.

"Ha!" Maggie called to the villain's back, rubbing her hands together in order to coax some warmth into them. Megamind always managed to find places that were frigid, even in summer weather. She really needed to start bringing a sweater with her at all times, or maybe some gloves, just it case...

"Ha Ha!" Megamind shot back, looking back at his captive.

"Ha Ha H—wait, what are we laughing about, exactly?"

"MWAHAHAHAHA!" Megamind cackled without an answer, pulling a lever that caused all the machinery in the room to disappear. Maggie watched in confusion, unsure of what to make of it. Hiding his equipment so Metro Man couldn't break it, perhaps?

Suddenly there was a tremendous crash, and Maggie looked around in anticipation, expecting Metro Man to be there, then cocked her head in surprise when she realized he wasn't.

"Wait, if this isn't—then where—"

"Oh my, Meghan, you didn't think we were in the real observatory, did you? Wouldn't that be just a little bit..._predictable?_" Maggie watched as large metal doors slid open, revealing the real observatory on a hill a long way off.

A sudden smile broke out across her face. "I should've seen that coming!" she laughed, ever the optimist. "Now _that_ was unpredictable!"

"Ready the deathray, Minion!" Megamind ordered, ignoring her optimism in favor of his own. "Over here old friend! In case you haven't noticed, you've fallen right into my trap!"

"You can't trap justice," Metro Man shot back. "It's an idea. A belief!"

"But even the most heartfelt belief can be corroded over time."

"Justice is a non-corrosive metal."

"But metals can be melted by the heat of ravange!"

"It's revenge, and it's best served cold!"

"But it can be easily reheated, in the microwave of evil!"

"Well, I think your warranty is about to expire!"

"Maybe I got an extended warranty?"

"Warranties are invalid if you don't use the project for it's intended purpose!"

"Gentlemen," Maggie interrupted. "Gentlemen, fight nice! May I go home now?"

"Of course, Meghan. That is, if Metro Man can stand the full, concentrated power of the SUN! FIRE, MINION!" Nothing happened. "Minion? Fire?"

"Still warming up, Sir."

"Come again?"

"Warming up, Sir."

"Warming up? The SUN is warming up?"

"I have to agree with Megamind on this one, Minion," Maggie lectured apologetically.

"Why am I always the one to blame Sir, Miss Madison?"

"Minion, please, you know I hate my last name!"

"Sorry Miss—er, Maggie."

"Is it done yet?"

"Just a little bit more...and a bit more than that...and a tippy-tippy-tap-tap more, aaaannndd..." Megamind clutched his eye and groaned. "My spider bite is acting up!"

"Today is just not your day, Megamind. Admit it!"

"As if," Minion snorted.

"Hey, whose side are you on, anyway?"

"The side that's never won." Megamind answered Maggie's matter-of-fact statement with a glare. "Sorry, but that's the truth." Megamind sighed and began walking towards the exit.

"Goodbye, everyone!"

"Same time next week then?" Maggie asked, watching as Minion shook the can of spray, but Metro Man's movements attracted her attention before she was put under. "What's wrong with Metro Man?" she asked, looking inquisitively between her kidnappers, expecting them to have the answers. They always had the answers.

Minion shrugged and Megamind ran back over to the screen to get a look for himself.

Metro Man had just fallen to the ground for the last time, his breathing heavy and his sides heaving in exertion. Maggie shook her head in confusion, expecting Megamind to come forward with an explanation right then, when she noticed the expression on his face, and realized that he had no idea what was going on, either.

They were all in the dark.

"Oh no, I'm trapped! Curses! Your super intelligence has finally paid off!" Maggie's face went dark with worry as she looked between her captor and the superhero.

"It has?" she asked incredulously.

"It has?" Megamind asked, just as surprised if not more so.

Probably more so.

"This dome must be lined with copper, my one weakness!"

"Copper?" Maggie asked, surprised. Something about that didn't quite fit...

"You're kidding, right?" Megamind asked. Before the invincible man could answer, the deathray detonated, and they watched as the observatory was blown sky-high. Maggie's hair was blown back with the force of the explosion, everyone was dusted in ash as it reached them, and Megamind was pushed into Minion as they toppled to the floor.

When it was over, Maggie blinked her eyes open wide and gazed around in awe. "Wow," she whispered, unable to say more. As she looked up in the sky, seeing a figure in a white cape flying toward them, she felt a chill run up her spine, and had a frightening premonition, one that was confirmed when the remains of Metro Man crashed down on Megamind.

_A perfect scene for a book,_ she couldn't help but think, feeling distant. _If only I could find the words..._

**Author Comments:**

**Yeah, sooo... This. XDXD, I'm so lame. I promise it'll start to jut off from the ordinary in the next chapter. :P**


	3. Damn Dirty Lethologica!

"Are you alright?" Maggie started as a hand landed on her shoulder, and she nodded, realizing before she reacted that it was Roxanne.

"I'll be fine," she told her friend, staring back up at the Metro Man statue as Roxanne joined her. "I'm just...not sure how to react."

"Did you hear my broadcast?"

"No. I can't hear anything from up here. Was it a good one?"

"I think so. I asked Megamind how he could do something like this. And how he could hurt you so specifically."

"Roxanne!" Maggie exclaimed, surprised at her friend. "Everyone will think I really _was_ dating Metro Man! ...You know I wasn't, right?" she added, still a little unsure. It didn't seem that anyone believed her.

"Of course I know that, Mags," Roxanne told her, a hint of a laugh in her voice. "I meant the two days you spent in bed."

"I know, but... Oh, I'm just so confused, Roxanne," she admitted. "I don't know why, or what about, I just...I can't... It's like there aren't words anymore, like I'm in a constant state of lethologica!"

"Lethologiwhat?"

"Lethologica. The state of not being able to find the word one is looking for," Maggie explained. Roxanne nodded slowly, and Maggie continued, glad to have someone to listen. "I never thought Megamind was capable of doing that, of actually killing someone. I knew he was evil, but... Oh, it's useless, isn't it?" she asked, looking to Roxanne for confirmation of her defeat.

"What's useless?"

"Trying to explain how I feel! No one...no one can really understand it. No matter how many times I try to explain to you what it's like to be kidnapped by Megamind and rescued by Metro Man, you'll never understand! I mean, remember that time when I told you—"

"The museum is closed now!" Maggie and Roxanne both jumped and turned, and both recognized the scrawny little man that stood before them.

"Hi...Barry?" Roxanne asked.

"Hey Bernard," Maggie said, putting on a forced smile. "Sorry, we'll only be a few more minutes, if that's OK."

"Whatever," he grumbled, sighing and rolling his cart away.

"You know him?" Roxanne asked.

"Yes. Bernard Ishoeihorpwafas. We sometimes get together to interview one another for books. He's an expert on villainy and I'm a writer who's constantly being kidnapped by his biggest subject of interest. What about you?"

"I've interviewed him a few times for specials on the Megawatch channel. A mouthful of a name, huh?"

"Yeah," Maggie laughed as Roxanne stepped away from the railing.

"I should probably go—I've got another date tonight. You going to be alright?"

"I'll be fine," Maggie assured her, waving her out the door before turning back to the Metro Man statue. "Well, Metro Man," she said softly after she was sure Roxanne had gone, "I guess it's time I said goodbye." Maggie pressed her first two fingers to her lips, pressed them to her forehead, then flipped her hand so that her palm faced outward and drew her fingers in a straight line across her forehead—in her books, it was an intergalactic symbol for "goodbye forever." It seemed very fitting, somehow, to use it now. Maybe because Metro Man had been an alien?

As Maggie turned to go, she heard a strangled yelp, and spun around. It was an instinct to know what could be going on that drove Maggie in the direction of the sound more than her concern for Bernard. Her quick pace carried her sneakered feet to the source of the sound very quickly, and she turned the corner just as there was a flash of blue light, just in time to see Bernard stand up from behind the cart of books.

"Bernard, are you OK?" she asked tentatively. He looked up at her in surprise, the surprise turning to plussedness. "Bernard? Bernard, are you all right?"

"Oh, me? Yes, I'm fine," he answered at last, almost as if he had forgotten what his name was for a second.

"Well thanks for letting me stay for a few minutes more. I really just needed a minute to put it behind me."

"Well, I wouldn't stay more than another 2 minutes and 29 seconds. We're having the walls and floors removed."

"Oh, really? That sounds like an interesting process. I'd like to hear more about it. I guess I'll catch a ride down with you." Maggie stepped into the elevator after Bernard, and for most of the ride, both were silent. "I—I guess everyone's in shock, aren't they?" Maggie asked suddenly, breaking the silence and looking to her riding companion.

"Yes," Bernard answered, and his unusually perky self melted to a depressed husk. But a different form of depression than was typical of Bernard. "We're all falling apart!"

"Bernard, I didn't know you were so upset," Maggie assuaged, setting a hand on his shoulder. "If only there was a way to go back in time…"

"I've looked into time travel!" the man exclaimed. "The technology won't be available for at least another three hundred years, and now there's no one left to rival Megamind!"

"Don't worry, Bernard," Maggie tried to comfort him as they exited the elevator. "If ten years of writing has taught me anything, it's that heroes aren't born, they're made!"

"Really?" he asked with a sniff, and Maggie smiled, glad to be the comforter and not the comforted.

"Of course! Where evil stands, good will always follow. All it takes to make a hero is courage, bravery, intelligence, belief—"

"And a smidgeon of DNA!" Bernard cried, his face lighting up.

"Well," Maggie answered, mulling it over, "I suppose genetics would help, but I don't think it's really—"

"Meghan, you're a genius!" Bernard cried, grabbing her by the waist and spinning her in a circle before setting her down again, giggling and dizzy.

"Well...thank you," she said, blushing a little.

"We should run now," he informed her as his watch beeped, and not sure why exactly they were running, Maggie followed as he pulled her out the door and down the steps. There was a taxi waiting outside, and Maggie hailed it before climbing into the backseat. Bernard waved her off as the taxi started off down the road, and Maggie rolled down her window as he called, "Goodnight, Meghan, and thank you!"

"You know Bernard, all my friends call me Maggie. You should try it some time. Night!" she called before rolling out of sight and disappearing down the road.

**Author Comments:**

**OK, Chapter Three, getting a little different, but I'm still not fully absorbed in the new storyline. Drat!**


	4. Blowing Stuff Up Doesn't Count

A few days later, Maggie and Roxanne stood outside the building that Roxanne suspected to be Megamind's hideout.

"I found the entrance!" Maggie called, pulling her arm out of a wall that looked solid. Roxanne rushed over and cued Hal as Maggie's gaze swept down the empty street. "Amazing how abandoned this part of town is," she murmured.

"This is reporter Roxanne Ritchi, standing here with Maggie Madison, where we've just discovered Megamind's lair, complete with a well-marked secret entrance," she said, referring to the sign hanging beside the stretch of wall that stated, "Lair sweet Lair".

"Come on," Maggie said suddenly. "We should get inside before Megamind realizes we're here!" Roxanne nodded and motioned for Hal to stop recording as the two passed through the immaterial wall, finding themselves at the center of Megamind's empty lair. "Look at this!" Maggie exclaimed, giddy with excitement as she took note of all the plans and weapons littering the floor and walls.

"What's this?" Roxanne asked, her fingers tracing one of the many blueprints plastered all over the walls.

"Hey!"

Maggie and Roxanne jumped and turned simultaneously, relieved to find it was just Bernard.

"Bernard, how'd you get here so quick?"

"Why are you here?" they asked in unison.

"I was in the neighborhood when you called, so I just came right over!" he replied, looking a bit pressed for a good reason to be nearby.

"What were you doing in the neighborhood?" Maggie asked. "There's nothing but abandoned buildings."

"I was...visiting my mother's urn. Which I left down the street. Because she liked this part of town." The women each gave him a quizzical look, but Maggie eventually shook her head.

"Never mind; it doesn't matter. Roxanne, you remember Bernard?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I invited him to join the investigation, I hope you don't mind. I figured he could help, since he knows just about everything about Megamind."

Roxanne shrugged.

"Sure, why not? Now, I wonder what this is for..." Her attention strayed to one of the blueprints she'd discovered earlier.

"Hey, this way looks exciting!" Bernard called, and Roxanne and Maggie looked in the direction he pointed in confusion.

"That says exit," Maggie pointed out.

"Which is short for exciting, right?"

"No," Maggie laughed, "It stands for exit, or to leave." She turned and examined the wall behind her. "Now what do you suppose this does...?"

"NO, DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Bernard cried as Maggie pulled a curtain to reveal paper pieces hanging from strings attached to the ceiling, arranged in some sort of formation.

"I wonder what it means?" she asked no one in particular, ignoring Bernard's outburst.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, I think we just struck the motherload!" Roxanne answered, snapping pictures of the hanging papers at all different angles.

"Hey, what's this do?" Bernard asked, seeming to try and distract them, but a dozen brainbots swarming into the room from nowhere, buzzing angrily, proved a much better distraction.

Maggie and Roxanne threw themselves to the ground and watched as Bernard was grabbed and carted away, knocking over a wardrobe in the process. A weird-looking weapon fell out and skidded to a halt at Maggie's feet.

"Quick, Roxanne, catch!" Maggie ordered, sweeping the gun up and tossing it to her friend "Follow me," she added, taking up another strange-looking gun from the table beside them.

"Where are you going?" Roxanne demanded, running after Maggie as they headed down the hallway.

"To get Bernard back!" Maggie answered, adjusting her glasses before rushing onwards, Roxanne following close behind. "Megamind!" she cried, pulling up short and stumbling when Roxanne knocked into her. "Where's Bernard?"

"Oh, Bernard? Yes, I'm doing terribly wicked things to him as we speak! I don't want to scar you, but, lasers, spikes—" He stuck his head in a door nearby, and Maggie heard,

"Oh no, not the lasers and the spikes!"

"You know the drill."

"Oh no, not the drill, aaaahh!"

Maggie smiled.

"Let him go, right now, Megamind!" Roxanne warned, stepping forward. "Or we'll find out what these things do!"

"Oh, the snoopy reporter, I'm so sc—AAAGH!" Megamind screamed as he saw what they were holding. "No, don't shoot those, especially that one," he added, pointing to the one Roxanne was holding and flinching. "Err...I mean...I'll go get him," he said, trying to regain his composure before diving down the doorway. They heard sounds of a struggle ensue, and the minute a regular flesh-colored hand was thrown out of the doorway, Maggie grabbed it, pulling Bernard out and running down the hall with him and Roxanne in tow.

She wasn't sticking around to be caught by Megamind.

When she was sure Bernard could walk on his own, Maggie dropped his hand and kept running, only to smack right into Megamind himself. "Megamind!" she cried again, not sure why she was surprised to see him.

"Give me that!" he commanded, grabbing the gun Roxanne was holding and trying to tug it from her grasp.

"If you want it, then it must be of the highest caliber of evil!" Roxanne snarled, giving it a sound yank, not relinquishing her grip.

"It's mine; give it!"

"Never!"

The gun discharged, and Maggie ducked just in time to avoid it before stepping on Megamind's foot and grabbing Roxanne, running for the door marked exit. She let go of Roxanne and flung wide the door, running out into thin air before she realized what was going on.

"Maggie, no!" Roxanne screamed as Maggie began to fall. Alligators dancing to disco music waited below, and Maggie flailed her arms, searching for any sort of handhold as she began to tumble through open space.

A strong hand gripped hers without warning, and Maggie looked up to see Bernard perched precariously over the edge, trying to pull her up. Roxanne threw herself down beside him, and Maggie reached up with her other hand, scrabbling with her feet against the smooth wall as they lifted her up and over.

"Looks like you were right, Bernard," Roxanne said shakily, and Maggie nodded.

"That _was_ exciting!" she agreed. Just as Maggie regained her breath, a new swarm of brainbots flew in, forcing them to their feet, this time Bernard and Roxanne leading the way while Maggie brought up the rear.

"Bernard!" Maggie heard Roxanne call from the front, tossing something red behind her, with which Bernard fumbled before catching it.

"What do I do?"

"Light it!"

"Doesn't this seem a tad extre—"

"Here," Maggie called ahead, grabbing it from Bernard's hands, using one of the brainbots to light it, and tossing it behind her.

"Sorry!" Bernard called back, pain flashing across his face, and Maggie couldn't help but wonder who he was talking to. Just as they reached the secret entrance and threw themselves out, the factory room exploded, smoke choking the air.

Maggie was the last to be carried from the room, landing half on top of Bernard and rolling off him as they, once again, regained their breath.

"That was...amazing!" Roxanne said at length, looking between Bernard and Maggie.

"I know! And you guys were magnificent! You saved my life!" Maggie shouted, throwing her arms around both of them as the three stood up.

"I've never seen you take charge like that before," Roxanne commented.

"I've never seen someone fight with him over a weapon!" Maggie laughed.

"And I never knew anyone could stand up to Megamind like that without being afraid!" Bernard cried, and Maggie could swear she heard hints of indignation and pouting in his voice as he rubbed his foot a bit.

"If you knew Megamind like _I_ know Megamind, you wouldn't be so scared either," Maggie brushed off, trying to make light of the "act of bravery" she didn't find so very brave.

"What's going on?" The three of them looked over to see Hal laying on the ground, his nose swollen and red.

"Hal, are you alright?" Maggie asked, her hands dropping from around her friends' shoulders.

"I think a bee flew up my nose," Hal complained as Roxanne walked over to give him a hand. "I was standing out here, waiting for you guys, when fifty ninja's jumped out and attacked me—"

"A brave one, isn't he?" Bernard whispered in Maggie's ear, and she laughed and whispered back,

"A regular Braveheart," which made them both burst into laughter.

"Wait, who's this guy?" Hal demanded suspiciously, gesturing to Bernard with hostility in his pudgy hand movements.

"Maggie's friend," Roxanne explained. "He's helping us with the investigation.

"OK, but if he lays a hand on you, I swear I'll go all super WHAPAW! And a little WHATAANG! And—"

"I'd better get him home," Roxanne said, ushering Hal towards the van. "Do you guys need a lift?" Maggie shook her head.

"It's not too late. I think I'll walk home."

"Bernard?"

"No, I—I live not too far away."

"All right. See you for lunch on Wednesday if I don't see you sooner!"

"Bye!" Maggie called, waving as Roxanne started the van and drove down the hill, then turned to Bernard. "So where do you live?"

"Oh, by the...museum?"

"You don't sound very sure," Maggie teased, beginning to walk down the street. "Why don't we walk together? We'll be headed in the same direction for awhile."

"Um..." Bernard looked unsure, then shrugged. "Sure. So," he went on after catching up with her. "Tell me about yourself."

Maggie shrugged.

"Oh, I'm not that interesting. Other than hanging out with Roxanne, my life consists of writing, meeting with my publisher, and being kidnapped by Megamind. I don't think you really want to hear about it. How about you?"

"Oh, I don't know much about myself," he returned. "So, why don't you tell me what it's like being kidnapped by Megamind?"

Maggie thought for a second, searching for someplace to begin before trying to explain it the best she could.

**Author Comments:**

**OK, NOW it starts to get different, and the plot gets messed up because I feel like it should. :D**


	5. Through Her Eyes

"It's hard to explain, really. It's changed over the years. So, let's put it this way," Maggie decided, glancing up at the bright blue sky as they walked the deserted street. "The first time Megamind kidnapped me, I was terrified. Here I was, a fifteen-year-old girl who'd never so much as had a hand laid wrong upon her, and I was being picked up by unseen hands and pulled into the sky!

"I kicked and screamed and wailed, but he wouldn't put me down, and when I got a good look at him, I was so surprised at what he looked like, I just went limp! He had expected and prepared for resistance, so when I stopped resisting, he lost his grip on me.

"I thought I was going to die, and I fell a good fifty feet before, to my utter surprise, he swooped under me and caught me in his arms! I clung to him the rest of the way to his lair, refusing to let go until he slapped me in a chair and tied me down. He called up Metro Man, and I screamed and called and cried as Megamind tortured me with sight-gags like alligators and saws all the way up until Metro Man came and saved me.

"But now I'm not afraid of him at all. Or, at least, mostly. I've never been able to forget that he's dangerous when he puts his mind to it. I guess after the first few kidnappings, I realized he wasn't going to hurt me and stopped being afraid. It aggravated him so much when I wouldn't react to his schemes—oh, you should've seen!" Maggie laughed as she spoke, her mind flashing back to several instances she would never forget.

"So he really didn't scare you at all?" Bernard asked, his voice full with that same indignant manner she thought she'd heard earlier.

"Oh, I guess it's hard to see. Everyone was always so afraid of him, a lot of people thought I put up a brave front for the public, but he really wasn't all that scary."

"Are you sure?" Maggie nodded and Bernard seemed to bend in a pouting manner. Then another question struck him, and he perked up a bit. "What was it like being rescued by Metro Man?"

"Nothing special," Maggie replied, waving it off. "He'd come and pick me up, set me down somewhere safe, maybe do an interview with Roxanne, and fly off. Just like any superhero story—besides the fact that we weren't involved in any sort of romance."

"But I thought—"

"You really won't let it go, will you Bernard?" Maggie asked. "Sheesh, you get kidnapped and saved a few hundred times and everyone thinks you're dating the hero!"

Maggie laughed again, and Bernard seemed to smile weirdly, then reverted back to his inquisitive state.

"What was your favorite thing about being saved?"

"Well, being _saved_ would be seeing the look on Megamind's face when his plan was thwarted. Being _kidnapped_ would probably be just about everything, after the first few scares."

"Really?" Bernard asked, clearly confused. "I thought you hated it."

"No, it was pretty enjoyable. At least, until the last time…" Her face fell, then rose again. "Besides, any other girl in the world would hate it—meaning I have to love it."

"That makes no sense."

Maggie shrugged.

"Doesn't have to. I've been told I'm insane, bonkers, positively clinical. I wouldn't be so surprised if it were true. Oh, this is my house," Maggie interrupted herself, looking up at her home. It was on the outskirts, one of the few actual homes in the city, with a yard and everything, having been handed down in her family since the town was young. "I have to go. Thanks for walking me home, Bernard—you really didn't have to. You're a great friend. I'll see you soon!" she added, giving Bernard a quick hug before running up the sidewalk and waving goodbye as she disappeared into the house.

Bernard waved in return, then turned and headed in the direction they had come.

"Oh, and Bernard?" Maggie called, suddenly reappearing in the doorway. Bernard looked back questioningly. "I'm really sorry about the museum. Thank God for royalties, right? Bye!"

Megamind watched and waited as she disappeared, then set off again, a slight swagger in his stride.

She considered him a friend!

**Author Comments:**

**XDXD, Megamind is so excited to have a friend. Then again, I think he'd take any opportunity he could to saunter along with importance—don't you agree?**


	6. Post Apocalyptic

"...And THEN, this OTHER guy, who I also don't know, walks up and asks the _exact_ same question!" Roxanne exclaimed, and the three broke into laughter.

"OK, OK, but what about that time with the donkey salesman and the gondolas?" Roxanne and Maggie fell into a fit of laughter, and Bernard looked on in confusion. When she saw his look, Maggie took it upon herself to apologize. "Sorry, Bernard. It's a long story. A _really_ long story."

"What about you Bernard?" Roxanne asked, turning to their lunch guest. "Do you have any funny stories you'd like to share?"

"Well, erm, not—not really, except for maybe this one time, a friend and I were trying to make popcorn for our class, and—" Bernard went on, explaining how they'd accidentally blown half the class up as Roxanne leaned over and whispered in her friend's ear.

"He is kinda cute, and a lot like you in some ways. You certainly make a good couple."

"Roxanne!" Maggie hissed in shock and surprise, giving her friend a stern and somewhat embarrassed look. "We're not dating! We're just friends!"

"Suuure," Roxanne teased, smiling and leaning back before Maggie could object further.

"...and anyway, it was just a complete disaster." Bernard finished a little shyly. Maggie and Roxanne laughed politely before Roxanne checked her watch.

"I've got to go. The studio wants me to give another speech about how Megamind can't be the overlord forever before Megamind decides to stop allowing freedom of speech."

"Break a leg!" Maggie called.

"And you break both of Megamind's!" Roxanne returned with a laugh before getting up to go. When she was out of sight, Maggie stood as well, and stretched.

"I've got to go, too. I'm working on a new novel, and I'd like to go down to the Museum of Metro Art and get some inspiration." Seeing the dejected look on Bernard's face, Maggie was quick to add, "Would you like to come? I could always use some company."

"Sure!" Bernard chirped, brightening immediately as he joined her in a standing position. She held out her arm, which he took with apprehension.

"Weeeeee're off to see the wizaaard—" she sang, looking to Bernard expectantly. He gave a blank stare. "Don't tell me you've never seen the Wizard of Oz?" Still nothing. "Judy Garland played Dorothy? It made her famous?" Just a blank look of confusion. "Well, I know what we're doing tomorrow!" Maggie announced with an air of finality, and began to sing the song herself as they marched down the street, ignoring the few odd glances that people gave her. They didn't bother her, but eventually she did stop, because it seemed to be making Bernard both nervous and embarrassed.

_How strange,_ she thought to herself. _I wouldn't have believed it myself before today..._

***Break***

"Wow," Bernard breathed, following Maggie through the deserted museum. "It's so empty."

"No one comes here now that everything's stolen or broken," Maggie explained. "Megamind destroyed it a few weeks ago."

"So why do you still come here?" Bernard asked.

"I like it when it's quiet, and not everything is stolen. The pieces that are still here may be broken, but some of them, if you look long enough, are still wonderful. It's just too bad that Megamind took so many after breaking them. And besides, in the story I'm writing, the museum is already in shambles when the main characters get there."

"Why's that?" he asked, following her gaze to a large, halved tapestry hanging by one corner.

"No reason," Maggie answered with a simple shrug, bending down to pick up a small stone hand and place it on a pedestal. "Just because I felt the need to make it so."

"That's really the only reason?"

Maggie shrugged again.

"When I write, I'm the commander of my characters' destinies, just like everyone in life is in control of their own."

"Not _everyone__,_" Bernard said, touching a charred statue and fumbling with the tip that broke off a spear before dropping it and darting away before someone could accuse him of breaking it. "I'm sure some people like, say, Megamind, aren't in control. People like him are destined for their path. They can't change it, right?"

"No," Maggie answered, picking up a stone head and examining the broken neckline. "We all control our destinies. Your choices affect mine, and mine affect yours, but only you can choose which way to act upon it. Megamind chose his own destiny. Fate though—" She placed the head carefully on a statue she knew it didn't belong on. "—Fate is another matter."

"Why's that?" Bernard asked, clearly made nervous by her suddenly ominous tone.

"Because," Maggie answered, wiping her hands on her jeans as she turned to face him, "Fate is the unchanging; the unchangeable. Fate controls those things no one can control—earthquakes, volcanic explosions, sometimes even falling in love. Fate is different from Destiny.

"Fate is the one that chooses when we die."

**Author Comments:**

**Ominous much? Foreshadowing any? Anyone like that it's jutting from the path now? I do. How 'bout the Wizard of Oz reference. Anyone like that? And answer me truthfully; how many of you start singing "We're off to see the wizard" when you link arms with someone? I used to do it with my Tutees all the time. XDXD**


	7. Poetry: The Stuff Of A Teenage Heart

"Nothing," Maggie said quickly, tucking her old poetry book behind her back before her friends could get a hold of it.

"Maggie, I never would have thought you'd be embarrassed of other people reading what you've written," Roxanne teased. They were in Maggie's attic, fishing through old boxes for clues from Megamind's early days. When Maggie was younger she used to keep a scrapbook of her kidnappings, at least until she realized it was going to be a lifelong sequence and just threw it in the attic with all her other worn out books.

By chance, Bernard had happened upon an entire box of the thick binders of poetry written by none other than Megamind's favorite captive and the city's favorite author, Maggie Madison.

"No one's ever read my poetry before, and I don't plan to let them!" she said, backing up.

"Roxanne, catch!" Bernard called, snatching the binder from Maggie's hands while she was focused on Roxanne and tossing it to the woman in a white tank top and tan jeans.

"Hey!" Maggie called, reaching up as it soared over her head. Roxanne caught it deftly and immediately flipped to a page in the middle.

"In a land of bleak despair,

A circling pit of raven-hearted blackness,

Nothing but the darkness of our hearts,

"The human race will dwell for eternity—this is really dark," Roxanne commented after reading off the first few lines. Maggie lunged for the book, but Roxanne tossed it to Bernard and held the younger woman back as he flipped a few pages and started reading aloud himself.

"Waiting here,

In dark and light,

Sitting here,

Between blind and sight,

Waiting to know if he loves me,

Waiting to hear his voice again,

Waiting for his warm embrace, that always seems so cold—"

"And you never had a crush before, hm?" Roxanne asked, letting Maggie go so she could snatch up the book and throw it back in its box. Her cheeks were scarlet, and on her face was a look of pure embarrassment.

"I was seventeen, alright?"

"But you still never told me!" Roxanne chided, smirking.

"I had trust issues after my old friends spread those rumors around school about me and Finn Coleman!" she defended, her face still beet red as she held her hands up to her face to try and cool it. Bernard looked on with amusement, then tried to hide it when she shot him a look.

"So who was it?" Roxanne asked, sitting down on the box next to her.

"I don't remember," Maggie lied, but not very convincingly. She had never been good at lying.

"Oh, I'm sure if you loved him enough to write poetry about him, you remember his name," Bernard put in, enjoying the banter between them—partially because it didn't have anything to do with him.

"Alright, _maybe_ I remember him, but neither of you would understand!"

"Do we know him?"

"You know _of_ him," she provided elusively.

"So who was it?"

"Oh, look, I found it!" Maggie said, diving into a pile of boxes and pulling out one stacked high with photo albums and old books.

"How many are there?" Bernard asked, kneeling down beside her as she searched through them. He thought it would be best not to press her.

Roxanne sighed and sat beside them.

"I still want to know," she whispered to Maggie, then her eyes darted to Bernard, and she smiled.

She was almost certain that she already knew.

**Author Comments:**

**Aww. XDXD, "Wow, this is _dark._" XDXD, IDK why, but I find that line humorous. Roxanne has suspicions. She thinks she knows it all. But does she? Let's find out...**


	8. Pay Attention

"Get back here!" Maggie cried, running after the blurry form of Bernard, recognizable only by his wild hair and constantly brown attire. His hand was held high in the air, clutched around something that, though blurred beyond recognition, Maggie knew was the key to her sight.

"Give those back!" she cried laughingly, gaining on him a little as they rushed through the empty streets.

"Never!" he called back, running ever onward. Maggie guessed that since she wasn't running into any debris, Bernard was steering her away from it as they pounded across town.

"Where are we going?" she asked, but he didn't answer, and she picked up even more speed, determined to get her glasses back. Just as grass began flying beneath their feet, Maggie leaped up and tackled Bernard to the ground. They rolled over and over before landing in a heap with Maggie on top, her glasses lost somewhere on the ground.

They burst out laughing, and when they finally stopped, ribs aching, Maggie rolled over and got to her knees, searching the grass for the glint of red-purple metal that would tell her where her glasses were.

"Looking for these?" Bernard asked after a few minutes of conducting his own search.

"Yes, thank you," she answered, plucking them from his hands and placing them in front of her eyes before looking around. "The park?"

"Look closer," he prompted, pulling her to her feet, and she did.

Her face lit up.

"It's—it's all cleaned up! Absolutely spotless! And the museum—"

"Right over there."

"Let's go check it out!" She exclaimed, grabbing Bernard by the hand and practically dragging him across the street. The museum doors opened with a loud _THUNK__,_ and Maggie gazed around in awe. "Everything's fixed. And the stolen artworks—"

"They're all back," Bernard said, seeming to enjoy her excitement. "Every single one."

"But who—why—"

Bernard shrugged.

"Maybe Megamind isn't as bad as he seems, after all." Maggie looked at him with sparkling blue eyes, a strange emotion hidden in her smile, one that Bernard couldn't quite gauge.

"You know, I've been trying to tell you that for a long time." Bernard shrugged again and scratched at the back of his neck.

"Well, I just hope you got enough inspiration from the museum when it was ruined for your book..."

"Oh, I did," Maggie assured him. "In fact, the story's just taken a turn for the better. The museum's just been refurbished."

A sudden chill ran up Megamind's spine.

For some reason, he had the feeling that this story she spoke of wasn't a story at all.

**Author Comments:**

**XDXD, glasses-related moments, because unlike Roxanne, this character is completely blind! I think it gives her a reason to always be the brunt of Megamind and "Bernard's" teasing.**


	9. Noon

"Something I've never told anyone else?" Maggie asked thoughtfully as they walked down the street together.

"You don't have to, of course, if you don't want to," Bernard countered quickly.

"No, that's OK, I don't mind," Maggie told him. "Well, it's not really a secret, but...how about that you're my first guy friend since I was a high-school Sophomore?"

"Really?"

"I know. It sounds really stupid, right?" Maggie asked. "But after I started being regularly kidnapped by Megamind and saved by Metro Man, these rumors spread around town that we were dating, Metro Man and I—though you know that already. After that, every guy in town was afraid to so much as look at me! After a while, even my best friend stopped talking to me..." Maggie trailed off, a wistful look planted over her face and a melancholy in her eyes.

"That must've been very depressing." Bernard's voice snapped Maggie back to the present, and she smiled pleasantly again, brushing it off.

"Well, the really sad thing is that me and Metro Man were never even dating, so really, I've never had a boyfriend—"

"Really? You and Metro Man weren't—"

"How many times do I have to tell you, Bernard?" Maggie asked exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. "Metro Man and I barely even knew each other! And he wasn't my type, anyway."

"So…what is your type?" Bernard asked, trying to sound casual.

"Oh, I don't know. Smart, funny, nice, cute—you'd know the type if you saw them. What about you? Do you have any secrets _you'd_ like to share?"

"Well," Bernard said thoughtfully, "When I was in shool...no one really ever liked me."

"That's terrible!" Maggie cried, suddenly pausing and throwing her arms around Bernard in a huge hug that he slowly, carefully, reciprocated. "I promise you that if we'd gone to the same school, we would've been the best of friends—just like we are now."

"You—you really mean that?" he asked, incredulous and uncertain.

"Since when do I say things I don't mean?" Maggie asked.

A wide smile crept across his face.

"Since I stole your glasses," he answered.

"You never—Hey! Give those back!" she commanded, taking off after him.


	10. This Is The Part Where,,,

Megamind waited patiently as Minion took his measurements for the Black Mamba and the brainbots swarmed around, helping. A wide grin was spread across his face, and he looked quite dopey as Minion talked to him—_at_ him, really. He didn't hear a word of it.

"Sir, are you listening to me?" Minion asked upon realizing this, startling Megamind back into reality.

"Er, what? Of course I was listening!" he answered indignantly.

"Then what was I saying?"

"Something about...fish leather?"

Minion gave him a look and crossed his arms over his robotic chest.

"Lucky guess, Sir. I know you aren't paying attention. You need to focus, Sir! Your debut as Titan's nemesis begins tomorrow, and you can't have your mind on other things while battling the son of the DNA-ray!"

"Yes, Minion, I know, I know...I'll pick it up while I'm battling Titan tomorrow, I promise!" he muttered absently, glancing down at his hands. Minion followed his gaze and grabbed Bernard's cell phone from his blue hands, holding it high above Megamind's head. "Hey, give that back!" Megamind cried, leaping for it only to be pushed back down by his loyal sidekick in villainy. "I was checking my E-mail!"

"You mean _Bernard's_ E-mail, Sir!" Minion lectured. "I think you've been spending too much time in your disguise! It's bad for your health!"

"But Maggie and Roxanne—"

"Will find out tomorrow anyway! You need to focus on what's at hand, not on a 'gaggle of inferior Earth Women,'" Minion insisted, using his master's own words.

"They are _not_ a gaggle of inferior Earth Women! Or at least Miss Madison isn't!" Megamind defended them, leaping again for the phone. "Now give that back!"

"No, Sir! My job is to take care of you, and I can't do that when I have trouble being sure you're evil!"

"And what if I'm not really evil, Minion?"

Shock.

Awe.

A moment of stunned silence.

"What are you saying, Sir?"

"I'm saying that maybe I don't want to be evil anymore!"

Minion gasped and cringed simultaneously.

"Sir! Who _are_ you?" Megamind glared defiantly up at his minion, only now realizing what he had said. "You can't really be thinking of giving up everything we've worked for, can you?"

"And what if I am!"

"I don't even _know_ you anymore, Sir!"

"Well if that's how you feel, maybe you shouldn't be working for me anymore!"

Minion paused, then nodded, tossing Megamind his cell phone and looking back as his body walked towards the door.

"Well fine then. If that's how you feel!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Good luck with being _good__!_"

"I _will__!_"

"That doesn't even make any _sense__!_" Minion shouted.

"I _KNOW__!_" Megamind cried, tears in his eyes as his only friend walked out of the lair and away from him, possibly forever. He'd never had a fight like this with Minion before. Never. He'd had ones close to it, but Minion had never walked out on him. He, along with kidnapping Miss Madison and trying to kill Metro Man, had been the one constant in Megamind's crazy, screwbally life. He'd been his one and only friend for years.

_Well, he's not my only friend anymore,_ Megamind reminded himself, glancing down at the E-mail he'd received hours earlier from Maggie. Then he shut the phone and tucked it away in his pocket, grabbing the keys to the invisible car and heading toward it. He slipped on a spilled can of motor oil and smacked his head into the side of the vehicle before stumbling around and getting in.

He needed a nice long drive to clear his head.

***Break***

"Bernard, where are you?" came Maggie's frantic shouts as Megamind answered the phone.

"I'm around, why?"

"I needed to talk to you about something important, so I—" Megamind saw Maggie flash past the window, unaware of the invisible car, and slammed on the brake when he swung around the corner. "—went to your apartment up near the museum, and they said that not only had you been kicked out for not paying your rent, but you'd also not been there in almost two months!"

"Oh, er, about that…"

"You do have a place to stay, don't you?" She sounded worried, and Megamind fumbled with his disguise watch as she turned the corner near where the car was now parked.

"Of course, I'm completely fine! You don't have to worry!"

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely certain!" he assured her. "And Maggie?"

"Yes?"

Megamind threw himself from the car, now dressed as Bernard, and grabbed her by the shoulder, the car door slamming behind him.

"What was it you needed to tell me?" he asked as Maggie turned, startled by his sudden appearance from thin air.

"Roxanne solved Megamind's plans!" she shouted, her eyes bright.

"Oh really? What are they?"

Sudden nervousness.

"He created a new superhero!" Maggie cried, and Megamind, as Bernard, pretended to be surprised. Not that he wasn't.

Just more that she had found out than that he'd done it.

**Author Comments:**

**OH NOEZ! Minion has left Megamind, and now the girls know about Titan! Better high-tail it outta there Megamind, before your secret's blown...**


	11. Give Your Vocal Chords A Rest

"So she called me, told me everything, and agreed to talk to me again on Tuesday! And the worst part is, the 'hero' is Hal! He's the worst possible person Megamind could have chosen, out of all the citizens in Metrocity—"

"Metrocity?" Bernard asked, the little word amusing him.

"Oh, Metro City, sorry," Maggie apologized, blushing. "Sometimes I think Megamind's worn off on me more than I let on. Anyway, there is no one possibly worse for the job!"

"No one at all?"

"No! Hal..." Maggie shook with anger as the words poured off her tongue. "Hal is a rotten little pervert who has nothing on his mind but personal gain. He has no sense of honor or valor, and he can't be trusted to do so much as watch your back. He's the worst human being that has ever been and ever will be, and I swear to you that this will only lead to trouble, more trouble than that pudgy little whelp of an insect will ever, in all his days, be worth!

"He doesn't deserve so much as a fraction of regular human strength, let alone the responsibilities that come with Metro Man's powers. We might all be dead in two days' time if he's the city hero," she growled, hatred burning in her eyes.

"Wow," Bernard murmured, surprised at her fervor. "I've never heard you speak so...heatedly." Maggie suddenly cooled down and shrugged a bit embarrassedly.

"Sorry. I don't like to show my dislike for people. But Hal...he has a past, in my eyes, and I don't know why Roxanne allowed him to be her camera man. For the past ten years I've been keeping my eye on him, just in case he stepped out of line, but now—now if he steps out of line, the citizens of Metro City will be the ones to pay for it.

"Ugh! I just can't see how Megamind could do this! First he killed Metro Man, now he's going to kill the rest of the city, whether he meant to or not, and I can't help but feel that it's partially my fault!"

"How could it be your fault?" Bernard asked, putting his arm around her shoulder as they walked and giving her a comforting squeeze. "You're the one who said that we're all in charge of our own actions, and we can't blame others for how they turn out." Maggie smiled a little and nodded.

"You're right, of course. Thanks. You and Roxanne, you're the best friends I've ever had," she confided. Bernard's face lit up, and then a thought occurred to him, and it leveled out.

"Maggie," he started, "say I wasn't me. Say, completely at random, that I was completely bald and my skin tone was that of a popular primary color. Would we still be friends?"

"Are you talking about Megamind?" Maggie asked, looking her friend in the eye. He seemed startled, and a little fearful, though she wasn't completely sure why.

"Because I'm almost certain I've told you before, I don't care what Megamind looks like, I still consider him a friend."

"You—you do?"

"Well, of course! We've spent enough time together during my kidnappings, after all, and I'm pretty sure he knows me better than anyone else—even better than you and Roxanne. And I know tons more about him than most people do. And once you get to know him, he really isn't too bad. A bit of an ego, but who doesn't have one?

"He's hilarious, and pretty much harmless—at least he _was._ To me. He was even kind of nice, in his own way. At the very least, we _were_ friends. Maybe. I think." A worried expression crossed her face. "I mean, I thought we were, but he never told me whether we were or weren't, and lately I haven't been so sure, and—Bernard, what are we?" she asked suddenly, taking her nerdy friend off guard as they halted just inside the glow of a street lamp.

"I mean, I know we're human, and we're both writers of sorts, but I mean, are we friends, or best friends, or a little more than that, or a little less, or are we just acquaintances or—oh, I know I sound insane, or paranoid, or both, but sometimes I have trouble being able to tell if others feel the same way I feel about them, and my best friend could be just a friend, or someone I consider a new friend might just view me as an acquaintance, or—"

Maggie's eyes widened as Bernard's lips came down on hers, putting an end to her ramblings. For a second she was shocked, but then she closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around Bernard's waist and returning the action in kind. When they broke apart, Maggie smiled a little goofily.

"Well," she commented, "That certainly answers my question."

"I—I hope that was OK," Bernard stuttered nervously. "I mean, I didn't know if—"

Maggie shook her head and drew him closer to her.

"No," she stated. "That wasn't OK."

Fear ran like lightning through Megamind's body. Had he just lost his only remaining friend?

Then Maggie spoke again, and he relaxed completely.

"It was perfect."

**Author Comments:**

**Aww. :D From best friends to lovers with a single action, eh Megamind? XDXD! I like this one. It adds a little depth to some of the subtler differences between Roxanne's and Maggie's kidnappings, and reveals that this one considered Megamind a good friend before he killed Metro Man, and even after. And-*GASPETH!*—Megamind didn't get revealed! Oh dear, how this will change things! Will Megamind ever be revealed as who he really is? Will Maggie be heartbroken? Will anything ever be the same? Stay tuned! O.O**


	12. Bendless Love

Maggie stirred slightly in her sleep as her dreams became a bit creepy. She had been walking through the park alone, and a building had suddenly appeared. She'd just pushed open the door to have it lock behind her as she slid into a bed that looked suspiciously like her own, when the one room building seemed to acquire further depth than it had had seconds before.

On the verge of wakefulness, Maggie waited, her dreamself watching the locked door before her as there was a banging on a door below her. An eerie wail sprang to her on clouded waves of sound. The screen door banged, the downstairs door opened and shut loudly, her fear growing less as Maggie began drifting more towards waking.

There were light, dragging steps below, then the same pair of feet pounding up the stairs, coming closer and closer. The door made a sound of opening, but the door before her didn't move, and the footsteps came closer and closer, firmer and firmer, more and more rapid, until something slammed into her, holding her down on the bed before grabbing her, pulling at her shoulders as it wailed wordless howls, shaking her as she fought and screamed.

Maggie's eyes snapped open, her body still being shaken rapidly by the ghost that had haunted her dream, and under the haze of sleep, she felt afraid. Then the image cleared, her mind began to function properly, and she yelped in surprise.

"Me-e-e-e-g-a-a-a-a-am-i-i-i-nnnd!" she cried, her voice bouncing as he shook her back and forth, his hands tearing into her shoulders.

"Meghan!" he yelled, his vibrant green eyes filled to the brim with fear and worry of his own. "Meghan!"

"Megamind!" Maggie shouted, sitting upright and pulling his gloved hands from her shoulders. "What are you doing in my house?"

"It's Titan!" he shouted. "It's Titan, he's evil! He tried to kill me, he's going to destroy the town, he—" Maggie pushed Megamind away, leaping from the bed, still in her jeans and T-shirt from the day before.

"What are you doing _here_ then?" she demanded, her voice betraying the panic his revelations had sparked in her.

"I—I need your help," Megamind said, eyes still wide, now filled with hope.

"Why would you need _my_ help?" she asked him, a little suspicious.

"Because Minion quit, and I have no idea what to do, and because you're the smartest person I know!" Maggie was speechless for a moment, her face portraying her surprise.

A smile crept onto her face, a queer smile that not even she could have interpreted.

"I am?" she asked. Megamind had never said anything like that before, and being that he was Megamind, the one with such a big ego... "Never mind!" She shook her head and deftly unclipped and applied her glasses as she had done many mornings before, getting her first good look of the day at her constant kidnapper and the city's new evil overlord.

"Why did Minion quit? And is that eyeliner?" she inquired. She found it hard to believe that the lovable little fish could abandon his friend when he was obviously in need of assistance. Looking him up and down, Maggie could see that his cape (a new one, she couldn't help but note) was in tatters, his body was covered in scorch marks, and a cut above the villain's eye leaked scarlet blood into the bright green of his iris, the entire combination of bright red, green, and blue causing a weird kind of color-based vertigo.

"It's complicated," Megamind said, ignoring the eyeliner question and beginning to snoop around her room to keep his hands busy.

"Well, you gave Hal his powers, didn't you? Can't you just take them away?" she asked, smacking his hand as it strayed to the top drawer of her desk.

"It's not that simple!" he insisted, rubbing his gloved hand to stop it from stinging. "I need the ray-gun to do that, and I lost it!"

"Where did you lose it? When?"

"I left it in the invisible car last night when I stopped to talk to—to a friend," he answered.

"Can't you make another one?" Panic edged her voice again, threatening to overtake her.

"It'd take another week, maybe more, and I ran out of Metro Man DNA when I created the first one! Is there any hideout Metro Man ever mentioned when he saved you?"

Maggie shook her head.

"No, we never talked after he rescued me, unless it was for the cameras." Her voice was near a whisper now as she tried to piece together some form of plan.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Maggie snapped. "I'm tired of everyone asking if I'm positively sure that me and Metro Man had nothing going on! You're the fourth person to ask that in the last twenty-four hours!"

Megamind shrank.

"I never meant to—"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you," Maggie apologized. "It's just—oh no." Her eyes widened as she realized something. "Megamind!" Maggie grabbed Megamind's shoulders and shook him twice before staring straight into his eyes. "Roxanne!" she cried.

"Roxanne Ritchi?"

"Who else?"

"What about her?"

"She's in danger! She—Hal!" He looked at her with a blank expression. "Why—Oh, that's right!" she shouted with a facepalm.

"What? What's right?" he asked, deeply confused by this new mystery.

"You don't know Roxanne, do you, I'm so sorry! I was thinking of someone else—but Megamind, my friend Roxanne is in danger! We need to save her!"

"Why?" he asked, pretending he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Hal—I mean Titan—he's going to try and kill her, I know it! We have to save her! Where's your skybike?"

"Right out—" He didn't even finish before Maggie sped out of the room, leaping the stairs two at a time. "Wait! Do you have a plan?"

"Not at all, Megamind!" she called back matter-of-factly. As he watched her rushing down the stairs, Megamind's face fell. That was right. He was Megamind, not Bernard. Maggie had never so much as liked Megamind—no matter what she said, he knew it couldn't be true. Bernard was the one who had kissed her last night, Bernard was the one to whom she had said goodnight. Bernard was the one Maggie loved, and he wasn't Bernard.

He was Megamind.

**Author Comments:**

**Oh, poor Megamind! She doesn't even know it's you! D: Poor little buddy...Lemme give you huggles...XDXD, So, what's up with this storyline, right? I'll tell you what's up—I changed everything! XDXD! Oooohhhhhhhh, this can't end well...**


	13. Hatching Plans

Megamind halted the bike at his lair, and Maggie leaped off, rushing through the secret entrance and stopping, a little dumbfounded, just inside. "You changed it," she said, a little awe-stricken, as he entered behind her. Megamind gave her a melancholy smile, for what she didn't know, and set his hand on her shoulder.

"You did blow a lot up last time you were here."

She blushed.

"Sorry about that. But your brainbots can be pretty aggressive when they want to be."

"TELL me about it," he groaned, rubbing the spot on his right hand where his one brainbot had bitten him on the day everything had begun. His expression made her laugh, before she gave the room another once-over.

"Where are your weapons?" she asked.

"Futuristic or old-shool?" the blue man inquired. Maggie turned again and gave him a dead-serious look.

"The strongest, most deadly thing you've got."

***Break***

"TADA!" Megamind cried, sweeping the curtain away from this newest deathray.

"You built this?" Maggie asked, sweeping her hands around its smooth copper surface. Megamind nodded proudly.

"Of course! Nothing but the best can be devised by the one, the only, the _g__reat__,_ Megamind!" He finished with a flourish, whereupon his arms became entangled with the curtain. He struggled with it for a moment, finally yanking away with such force that his spiked cuffs smacked him right in the head with a loud _THUNK!_

"Megamind!" Maggie shouted, rushing to his side and pulling him to his feet. "Are you alright?" she asked, unable to hold back a giggle or two from the look on his face. He stared daggers at her, and she tried her best to stop laughing.

"Yes, I'm fine!" he snapped, brushing her off. The Incredibly Handsome Criminal Mastermind and Master of all Villainy didn't need her help. At least, not with standing up.

"And you're sure this will stop him?" she asked. He nodded.

"Absolutely positive. As sure as Metro Man is dead, this will—er, I mean, as sure as copper is an inferior—no, wait, that's not right either..."

"How does it work?" she pressed, looking up and stopping him before he could find a suitable thing to be sure about. Megamind smiled.

"That, Miss Madison—"

"Don't—"

"That, Meghan," he corrected himself, "is where you come in."

**Author Comments:**

**Uh-oh, Maggie, looks like you're in trouble! XDXD, yay for criminal-mastermind-on-the-spot plans! :D**


	14. Wound With Her Smile, Kill With Her Eyes

"Are you sure about this?" Maggie asked, looking up as Megamind hooked himself into the machine. "I mean, I could always—"

"No!" Megamind barked, fear, worry and anger intermingling in the strange harshness of his voice. The fervor in his shout surprised Maggie, and scared her a little. Why would he...? "I—what I mean is—Roxanne is your friend, not mine. And I am a villain, after all; I have to keep up my image."

"But you could—"

"Besides," Megamind cut her off, "it's too dangerous. It isn't tested. If it blows up, I've had more experience thwarting death. Such a puny weakling human as yourself would never last!" Maggie looked ready to argue, then decided against it, and nodded.

"So what am I supposed to do?" she asked, seeking direction.

"Here's the plan," Megamind replied, getting out his metaphorical compass. "I come in and distract Titan, you grab Roxanne from the tower—" (they'd just seen a broadcast straight from Titan stating that if Megamind didn't show up in an hour to hand over the city, not only would he kill Roxanne, but he'd also go after Minion) "—get her to safty while I lock Titan up in this copper con-tun-ner, and then look for the defuser!"

"It's safety and container," Maggie corrected.

"What?"

"You said—never mind." Maggie shook it off, then smiled down at the bike beneath her. "You know, I've always wanted to drive one of these!" she giggled, gripping the handlebars. She sounded a bit childish, like a six-year-old having the training wheels taken off their bike for the first time.

She saw the strange look Megamind gave her and blushed in embarrassment. "Well I have!" she defended. "Evil may not be my specific cup of tea, but you do make it look good."

"I—I do?" Now it was Maggie's turn to give Megamind a speculative glance, and he straightened and puffed out his chest to make up for his moment of surprise. "I mean, of course I do! I am Megamind, after all; the Incredibly Handsome Criminal Mastermind, Master of All Evil and Villainy and Ruler of Metrocity!"

"Adding some titles there?" Maggie asked, and he returned with a roguish grin that Maggie reciprocated with a slightly cheeky smile of her own. Then she revved the engine, twisting the handlebars and kicking the bike into gear. Megamind watched as something seemed to change in her. A wild smile bore down on her usually pleasant and controlled features, her blue eyes flashing with a dangerous flame, every movement filled with bottled excitement, before her face became deadly serious.

She strapped on the helmet Megamind had given her—one he had used in dodge ball as a boy, the electric field now disabled. Determination inhabited her features as she turned her head to look to Megamind. He would never have admitted it to anyone, not even Minion, but the hatred that burned so heavily in her for the Hal creature he had created? It scared him. He'd seen a lot of sides to this captive in former years, especially over the last few months, but this had never been one of them.

"Let's go," she ordered, her determination and sudden seriousness spreading to her voice, now darker than it had been. Then she shot out of the lab through the hole in the roof that Megamind had opened to get their machines out. As he watched her go, chills ran down his spine. She was truly beautiful, remarkable, unpredictable, and he knew right then that if she'd had her choice of parts to play in this game, she would have been the hero. And even worse; she would have had no trouble killing him. None at all.

Of this, he was deadly certain.

**Author Comments:**

**MWAHAHAHAHAHQHAHAHAHAHA! Yes, Megamind, this character is a very different love interest from the one you would've had otherwise. She's more than a damsel in distress or nosey reporter. She's a writer. And she's dangerous.**


	15. Crazy Is The Best Kind of Sane

"You're living in a fantasy, Roxanne! There is no Tooth Fairy, there is no Easter Bunny, and there is no Queen of England! You need to WAKE UP!"

"There _is_ a Queen of England!" Roxanne spat back from where she was tied to the Metro City Tower. "And Megamind will save me!"

"How do you know that, Roxie? Is he your _boyfriend__?_" Hal sneered.

"No, I don't even know Megamind! But I do know Maggie, and she'll do whatever it takes to make Megamind save me, even if she has to go through all his brainbots _and_ Minion to do it!"

"Oh really? Little Miss Madison, author and kidnap victim, is going to force the great Megamind to save you? You really are living in a fantasy, Roxie."

"Don't call me that! What do you want with Megamind anyway?" she demanded, stalling for time.

"I have a bone to pick with Megamind," Hal growled. "No one makes Tighten look like a fool! NO ONE!"

"Oh really?" a feminine voice called out from no where. Hal and Roxanne looked up as dense black fog began to roll in, and though they were looking for a feminine form, Megamind was what they saw, plugged into a large machine, flying in their direction. Something that looked that a large metal ball was attached to the bottom, ready to be dropped on someone unsuspecting.

"Because I think I already have!" Megamind cried, and Roxanne could see Hal's face go red in anger. Fear stirred deep within her at the sight of the city's supervillain approaching the city's newer supervillain, and dread rose in her throat like water into the air.

Megamind had come to save her.

But where was Maggie?

"Roxanne!" Maggie's voice startled Roxanne, turning her attention from the villains.

"Maggie?"

"Shush!" Maggie flew up beside her friend, looking quite intimidating atop one of Megamind's skybikes, even more so sporting a deadly, spiked helmet and some sort of laser. "Quick," she said, leaping from the bike onto the tower while doing her best to keep unseen by Titan as Megamind kept him busy.

"I'm going to drop you off on the ground—" Maggie blasted the wires that bound her friend and grabbed her hand, helping her onto the bike as she spoke. "When I do, I need you to run three blocks, turn left down Middleton, and walk down the sidewalk on the left while running your hand along the air down the side of the street."

"Wait, why—"

"Don't ask questions, Roxanne, I just really need you to do this for me, OK?" Roxanne hesitated, then nodded as Maggie revved the engines. "Eventually you'll bump into something you can't see. Open the door, and on the seat you should find the ray-gun you and Megamind fought for in the warehouse—" Maggie and Roxanne took off through the air.

"I need you to grab it, run back to where Megamind is, and toss it to him, but whatever you do, don't break it!"

"Is that the plan?" Roxanne asked, trying not to look down at the ground below. Maggie displayed exquisite handling and confidence in her skill at driving the bike, but Roxanne knew that Maggie had never driven a motorcycle before, let alone one of Megamind's motorbikes.

"It's part of the plan," Maggie called back, turning her head slightly and watching as Megamind went flying, the copper capsule broken on the ground. She flinched as Titan turned and grabbed the Metro City Tower. She revved the engine and willed it to move faster.

"What's the other part?"

"Well I can't tell you all of it," the writer called, "but the majority of it involves not dying!"

"That's a good plan!" Roxanne returned. Then Maggie grabbed her and began pulling her friend off the bike while continuing to steer with her right hand. "Wait, what are you—Maggie, are you crazy!" Roxanne cried, clinging to the bike as best she could.

"Yes, I am," her friend replied, sounding far calmer than she should have been. "But that makes little difference! Remember the directions!" she warned, succeeding in tossing Roxanne off the bike at precisely the right moment so that the reporter began bouncing along the top of a line of red awnings.

Roxanne hit the ground hard, thankfully landing on her bottom, and stared after Maggie as she zoomed off. Roxanne stood and dusted herself off, then began to run down the street, following the directions Maggie had given her. She had no idea what the plan entailed or how it would be executed, but there was one thing she knew for sure; she wasn't sticking around to watch her friend get herself killed.

**Author Comments: **

**XDXD, Uh-oh. They're gonna die, aren't they? O.O**


	16. There's Death, Let's Spit In His Eye!

Maggie whipped around as she tossed Roxanne off the bike, only to make another abrupt turn as the top of the Metro City Tower flew past, nearly crushing her. The bike spun out of control, and Maggie pulled up hard, trying to regain mastery over the flying vehicle. She ended up flying towards the fountain, and yanked to the right to spin back and head towards Megamind and Titan, when she saw something that made her breath catch in her throat.

Maggie dived off the motorbike, dropping ten feet to the ground and rolling twice before standing, elbows and knees scraped, and rushing to where he lay. "Minion!" she cried, throwing herself down beside the fish. His robot body was crushed beneath a large tan chunk of tower, and water spilled from his bowl like blood, darkening the previously dry ground.

"I'm fine, Maggie. Go help the Boss; he'll need your help more than I do," Minion said with a dry cough.

"I doubt that," she answered, but stood anyway, grabbing him a bit roughly by the fin as she did so and flinging him into the fountain. Maggie then ran to where the bike had fallen, throwing a leg over the side and flying off the ground, headed towards where she knew Megamind had fallen.

Before she had gone more than a few feet, however, Titan pulled up in front of her, grabbing the nose of the bike. Maggie slammed forward with the momentum she had gained, grabbing at the laser at her waist.

"No you don't," Titan spat, his heat-vision shooting out and zapping the handle of the gun, burning Maggie's hand and forcing her to let go.

"What do you want with us, Hal?" Maggie demanded.

"Revenge," he answered before swinging the bike around and letting it fly. Maggie flew through the air, breaking away from the machine and tumbling head-over-heels through the air, unsure of which way was up and which was down. Before she could follow the motorbike and crash to the ground in a heap, Tighten was again below her, grabbing her out of the sky and tossing her up into the air.

"What have I ever—" Maggie screamed, flying towards a skyscraper nearby.

"Absolutely nothing, Maggie!" Titan replied, taking her up by the collar before she reached the building. Maggie choked as airflow was abruptly cut off, the fabric of her T-shirt digging deep into her flesh.

"Then why—?" She managed to choke out the beginning of her next question before she was sent screaming into the air yet again. Just before she smashed into the pavement, Titan swooped by and grabbed her a third time, this time his meaty fingers digging into her shoulders.

"Because of Megamind," he hissed, and the way he said it made Maggie's blood run cold.

Then she laughed.

"Nothing you do to me can make him waver, Hal," she spat, her voice a little hoarse from nearly being choked to death. "In case you didn't notice, Megamind's not Metro Man. He's not a pushover."

"Oh really?" Hal asked, acting as if he knew something Maggie didn't. "We'll just see how that turns out." Before Tighten could do anything more, Maggie brought her knee up, slamming it into his crotch and forcing him to drop her a good eight feet to the ground. This time she landed on her hands, knees, and the balls of her feet. She winced as pain shot up her left leg, not having to look to know she'd fallen on it wrong.

Looking back up, Maggie shriveled under Titan's gaze. He was already recovering from her attack, and she knew she'd messed up big time. Maggie stood quickly, taking off as fast as she could across the battleground, slightly favoring her left leg.

But Titan was too quick. Already he was in front of her, grabbing her wrist and twisting hard, causing the young woman to scream in pain as she heard it snap, and hung limp in Tighten's grasp for a moment, unable to move from the overwhelming sensations of pure agony coursing through her. She felt her consciousness fading as she began to black out from the pain, heard Minion's voice somewhere behind her, and in front of her, Titan's voice uttering a single, mocking word;

"Weakling."

Maggie's eyes snapped open before involuntary sleep could sweep over her. Her left foot smacked down on Titan's right, the pain in her wrist numbing as a jolt ran through her foot, as if she'd stomped on a metal bar instead of a man's foot. She clenched her teeth tight, pretending to be unaffected.

"I am _not_ a weakling!" she growled, wrenching her broken wrist from Titan's grasp and reaching for the cooling weapon at her side. But again, Titan was too quick, grabbing the laser before she could and tossing it over his shoulder. Maggie tumbled to the ground as Tighten lashed out with a careless hand, just catching her on the cheek and leaving a large red spot across the side of her face.

"You'll never win!" she spat, trying to scramble away, only to be grabbed and pulled back by her so-far unharmed leg.

"It's fun watching you squirm," Titan remarked as if she'd never spoken. "It's no wonder Megamind kidnapped you so many times."

"You take that back!" Maggie cried, fire flashing in her blue eyes. "The most Megamind ever did was smack my head in a doorway by accident!"

"And do you know why that is?" Titan asked as Maggie was tossed back into the air by her leg, spinning in endless cartwheels in the sky as she went up, up, up, smacked into an overhang, and spun down, down, down. Titan grabbed her by her broken wrist again, holding her high over his head like some kind of ragdoll trophy.

"Yes," Maggie said, teeth clenched again as much in pain as in anger.

"And why's that?" he mocked. Maggie's eyes darted upwards, and she forced a grim, painful smile.

"Because this time around, Megamind's the good guy." Titan watched as a flash of blue flew past, relieving him of his grip on Maggie's wrist, and Megamind carried her away on his back-up motorbike. Before Megamind could haul his frequent kidnap victim onto the back of his skybike, Maggie flashed Titan a rebellious, smug smile, waving with her unbroken hand as if to say goodbye.

Titan's face went red, and his teeth clenched as he took off after them. There would be Hell to pay.

And Maggie would be the one to pay it.

**Author Comments:**

**OMG, MAGGIE, DO YOU HAVE A DEATHWISH! No one mocks Tighten and gets away with it! Except for, well, everyone. But that's besides the point! Sheesh, this character is going to get herself killed if she keeps taunting Hal. XDXD**


	17. True Sight Is Reserved For The Blind

"What is wrong with you?" Megamind shouted as they sped away from Tighten, Maggie's arms clutched tight around his waist. "I thought we agreed that you would stay out of the fight! You could've gotten hurt!"

"Well I lied!" Maggie called back over the scream of the wind. "And I did get hurt!"

"Well you could've gotten _killed__!_" Megamind screamed back, and Maggie was almost certain she heard a hint of desperation in his shout, something she didn't quite understand... "What would I have done then?" Megamind continued. "What would—"

"No one would miss me but Roxanne and Bernard, anyway!" Maggie called up dismissively.

_What about me?_ Megamind wanted to ask, but he didn't. He couldn't. Maggie didn't know he was Bernard, and that's who she loved, not him. She didn't know that he cared, she _couldn't_ know, and it wasn't like he could just tell her, not right now. So he grasped at the next thing that sprang to his mind.

"What about your family? Your fans?"

"My family's dead, and my fans are just people who like my writing! That I live isn't important, it's you that matters! Anyway, the plan's already pretty much dead, drop me off and I'll get him off your tail for a few minutes!"

"I'm not leaving you with that madman!" Megamind yelled forcefully, and Maggie could tell that he truly meant it. She chanced a glance behind her, fear overtaking her as Tighten's eyes flashed before her own. She didn't have time to so much as utter a cry of warning before Tighten knocked her off the bike with a single motion, sending her whizzing to the ground, now fifty feet away, now forty, now thirty, now twenty, now ten, as she tried to warn Megamind, but by the time air returned to her lungs, Megamind was already flung into a building, slowly sliding down the brick wall, his face stained red.

Then Maggie hit the ground, all the air driven from her all over again, unable to suck in air, unable to move in the agony that had become her. At least one of her legs was broken, her arm was tilted at an unnatural angle, she was unable to move three of the fingers on her right hand, blood dribbled into her mouth from the back of her throat, and she knew that her tailbone was shattered.

Maggie's back was in too much pain for her to be able to tell whether it was broken or not, and she hoped that it wasn't. If she could keep only one thing unbroken in her body, it would be her backbone. She couldn't move, only watch as Tighten delivered a merciless beating to the blue villain she called Megamind, and tears of anguish streamed down her cheeks, refusing to blur what she was seeing.

Maggie couldn't look away when Megamind's hand broke as he delivered what would have been a knock-out punch to Tighten's jaw, doing no more than turn the new villain's head, or when Tighten tossed Megamind against the wall, or when he chucked a car at him that Megamind was barely able to dodge. Tighten picked the blue man up by the collar and chucked him across the way, Megamind slamming into the wall of another building, this one made of concrete.

Maggie closed her eyes before they snapped open, her senses alert as a familiar voice called her name.

"Roxanne!" she called, unable to see her best friend from the way she was angled. "Did you get it?" she asked as her friend came nearer.

"Maggie, are you—"

"DID YOU GET IT?" Maggie screamed it this time, unable to find any other way to express the importance of this moment.

"Yes, I got it!" Roxanne answered, standing over her agemate and showing her the gun. "What do you want me to—"

Maggie shook her head, rolling over with a groan and slowly pulling herself up. Roxanne tried to help, and Maggie let her, the space between Tighten and Megamind growing smaller and smaller with each second that passed. When she was on her feet, no time went by before Maggie grabbed the gun from Roxanne, switching the settings to "Defuse" and "running" for all she was worth across the open space, trying to get to Tighten before he got to Megamind.

As bruised, battered, and broken as Maggie was, she refused to stop. Even as her left leg went out entirely, she kept going as fast as she could. Then, just when she thought she might make it in time, everything seemed to go in slow motion. Time almost stopped, and she could see the heat gathering in Tighten's gaze as he approached Megamind, watched as the lasers gathered more and more force.

Looking between the two villains, new and old, now and then, latter and former, Maggie felt her own vision fading. She stumbled as she ran, and through a new haze of red and black, the fight left her. Black static edged her vision, everything began to blur and fuzz...blur...blur...

Blur!

Maggie's eyes shot open, her vision clearing, but it wouldn't be so for long! Setting the defuser in the crook of her broken arm and putting on a burst of speed, Maggie reached upward.

She knew what she had to do.

**Author Comments:**

**Did You Pay Attention?**


	18. Looks Can Be Decieving

"MEGAMIND!" Megamind looked up as Maggie called his name, saw her running towards him, and couldn't believe that she could still walk. He saw that she was in a bad state, worse than him, but somehow she kept moving, making it look easy to run while sporting more than a few broken limbs. But that wasn't what he noticed first and second.

First he noticed the defuser under her arm, and second he noticed what she wanted him to notice as they left her hand, and he reached his own up, in preparation.

Maggie watched the blurs that were Megamind and Tighten come closer and closer, Tighten specifically, and followed, more from an instinct to know at all times where they were, the object as it sailed away from her fingers, towards Megamind, hoping against all hope that just this once, for the good of all that was, her aim was straight and true, that her calculations were correct, and that Hal truly was as stupid now as he had been for the past twenty-six years of his life.

"CATCH!" he heard her call, and Megamind took a step forward, not sure why she wanted him to have them, but trusting her to have reason enough to handicap herself and draw him a little farther from the wall.

Maggie watched as her glasses hit home, landing in Megamind's outstretched hands, not a second too soon. It was at that very same moment that Tighten's lasers reached Megamind, but instead of frying him to a crisp, the concentrated waves of heat smacked into Maggie's glasses, bouncing off the rounded glass and sending it right back at him.

Tighten dodged, but Maggie still cried out in victory. A second earlier and Megamind would have readjusted them.

A second later and he'd already have been dead.

Then Maggie slid the defuser back into her hands, clutching it in her broken fingers and sliding to a halt right in front of Hal, stuffing it up his nose before he could object.

Three things happened at the same time.

Hal swung out with all his strength, Maggie pressed the button on the gun, and Megamind fired his own laser at Tighten from where he stood, set to "Destroy".

As the strength was zapped from Hal's body, the full strength of his punch carried on, smacking into Maggie's side and sending her flying through the air, slamming into a building nearer to the fountain and sliding down into a heap of rubble as the former Tighten crumbled to nothing more than dust under the power of Megamind's "Destroy" setting.

Maggie's head slammed back against the hard stone wall, Megamind's childhood helmet long lost somewhere on the battlefield, as her name was called from two separate directions.

"Maggie!"

"Meghan!" same the voices of first Megamind and then Minion. Her eyes slipped shut as Megamind ran for her, jumping over piles of debris and leaping over chunks of buildings and machinery as Minion watched anxiously from the fountain, citizens beginning to creep out from hiding and gather round. Roxanne ran for Maggie, then stopped dead.

As Megamind slid to a halt beside her, Maggie's eyes snapped open, and both her hands shot up, grabbing both sides of Megamind's face and drawing him into a deep, passionate kiss that made everyone's eyes go wide in surprise, particularly Megamind's.

When she drew away, Maggie's broken arm flopped down to her chest, covering a spot that was leaking a bit of blood, and her right arm hooked itself onto the back of Megamind's neck.

"What—what was that for?" Megamind gasped, staring down at Maggie with confusion in his vivid green eyes.

"Oh, nothing special," she said softly, dismissively. "Minion didn't call me Miss Madison, Tighten's dead, I'm dying, I love you—just the usual." A smile crept onto her lips at the last part, and Megamind's eyes brightened, his mind skipping over everything and lighting on the last uttered detail.

"You—you love me? But I thought you loved Bernard!"

"Of course I love you, Megamind," Maggie laughed, eyes sparkling. "And Bernard..." Maggie's hand strayed from Megamind's neck to his watch. She turned it once, finding herself looking up into Bernard's face before she turned it back. "I don't think he'll mind," she finished.

"You—you knew?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course I knew, Megamind. You're talking to Maggie Madison, famous author and self-proclaimed genius, not to mention your kidnap victim for ten years. I'm not stupid. It doesn't take your brain to put together twelve and eighty-eight."

"But if you knew, why didn't you say something?" Megamind asked, his mind whirling.

"I wanted to see how long it would take you to admit the truth," Maggie answered. "I can't help it if I fell in love with the incredibly handsome master of all villainy while I was waiting." Megamind looked down at her for a second before beginning to smile. Maggie smiled back, and for a few seconds, they gazed contentedly into one another's eyes. The moment was short lived when Megamind's mega mind finally processed what she had said earlier.

"Wait! Did you say you were dying?" His eyes were now fraught with worry. Maggie smiled wryly, her eyes full of melancholy as she forced her broken hand to move from her chest, revealing a bloody mess underneath, and Megamind could now see that what had looked like a surface wound was must deeper. MUCH deeper, the wound coming from a long spike that had entered her body from the other side, upon which she was still atop.

"Maggie!" Megamind cried, eyes wide in panic and terror. "You—you can't be dying!" he cried, grabbing her by the shoulders. "You can't be dying—I forbid it!"

"Don't worry, Megamind," Maggie said softly. "I'll be fine, I promise. I'll be fine."

"I love you, Maggie Madison," Megamind whispered, still clutching her shoulders.

"I love you too, Megamind," Maggie answered, voice still soft. "But you don't have to worry, I'll be fine. It doesn't even really hurt. None of it hurts. I'll be fine."

"Don't leave me," Megamind insisted as Maggie's eyes began to close.

"I'd never dream of it," she told him. "But I'll be fine."

"I love you," Megamind asserted, grabbing her broken form and pulling her to him. "Please, Maggie, don't go, stay here with me, you're the hero, you need to—"

"You're the hero, Megamind," she argued. "And I told you, I'll be fine. It doesn't hurt. I feel fine. It doesn't really even hurt. I'll be fine. I'll be f—"

That last F died on her lips as her body went limp and her eyes sealed shut, her right arm, again around Megamind's neck, sliding to the ground. Her head tilted back and her mouth parted ever so slightly, as if she were asleep.

But there was no sleep.

Only death.


	19. Epilogue

It isn't so bad, being dead. I get to watch everything going on at once, down on Earth. I can watch the entire Earth as a whole, zoom in on one country, a town, even individual people. I can follow strangers as well as family and friends, and I don't have to sacrifice TV or music. It's pretty much a guarantee that someone, somewhere, is listening to the song or watching the show I'd like to watch, and it's nice to see how my friends are making out now that I'm gone.

I'm never short of company, either. My whole family is up here, and some old friends as well, and old childhood pets. I was surprised to find, upon arriving, that Metro Man wasn't here (can you believe that bastard is still alive, and didn't do one single thing to help us?), but I'm kind of glad. That leaves Megamind's kill count down at one; Tighten.

But I think my favorite part of being dead is the memories. I can go back to any time I want and relive what happened, even if I can't consciously remember it. And sometimes, every so often, there's an option there. It's very hard to see, and even harder to follow, but it's not impossible, not by any means. And when you get that option, you can go back and see what would have happened had you or another person made a different choice. That happened to me the first time I went back.

You know how people say that your life flashes before your eyes when you die? It doesn't. But immediately after you die, you _are_ launched into a fast-forward of living through your life, every pain, good feeling, thought, and memory since birth and up until death. And while I was doing that, the option came up, right at the point when Megamind kidnapped me.

I followed it, and it turns out that me being kidnapped by Megamind wasn't an act of fate, but one of destiny. On my way to my interview that day, Megamind could have chosen to kidnap my best friend, Roxanne Ritchi, instead of me, and if he had, everything would have been different.

Megamind's plans would have all been so much different, except for the last one, which would have been very much the same. As it turns out, my life would have been very different. I wouldn't be as big an author as I was, though I would have had two or three books published, and three years from now I would be publishing the book that would be chalked up as the newest "Great American Novel". I would never have known Roxanne or Metro Man or Megamind, but for hearing of them on TV.

I would have loved Metro Man as our city's hero, I would have hated Megamind, just like everyone else, and I never would have fallen in love.

The biggest difference is that right now, I would still be alive.

But one thing that makes me wonder is that Roxanne would have ended up falling in love with Megamind, and I find it a little funny. Not funny ha-ha, not funny-weird, more like a mix of the two, both and neither, and it really makes me think about how Fate loves to play these games with us.

After I died, nearly all of Metro City showed up at the funeral, even though I didn't know the majority of them at all. They insisted I was the hero, that I saved the day. I don't believe that for a minute. I played my part, but it was Megamind who was the real hero, the one who really saved us. Megamind and Roxanne were no exception to this, of course, and my funeral, both pushing to the front of the crowd with not a single nay-sayer to send them to the back, was the first time they really met, face to face, no bars or screen or holowatch between them.

They could have blamed each other for my death if they wanted to, and no one could really have blamed them. They could have fought and squabbled and cursed at each other, but they didn't, and I'm proud of them for that. Instead, they found comfort and solace in one another's company after I died.

Megamind and Roxanne mourned for me and got together to comfort one another, but eventually it was less about comfort and more about enjoying each other's company. They fell in love, and now they're getting married. Just today I watched as Megamind proposed to Roxanne, and when she said yes, I literally squealed in excitement. My brother looked at me as if I were insane.

"You realize that your true love just proposed to your best friend, right?" And I nodded. It means they've moved on from me, that they're able to get on with their lives, and I'm glad. I don't want them to mourn me constantly, I don't want them to be sorry for their loss to the point where they can't go on living. But I do think it's funny how Fate and Destiny built me up to think that I was supposed to be Megamind's only to have it ripped away and handed to my best friend.

Later that night, though, when Megamind and Roxanne were celebrating back at the lair, Megamind slipped off, and I saw him enter a closet I had never noticed before. He came in, took a small blue velvet box from his pocket, opened it, and set on the shelf, next to a picture of me and a candle.

Then Roxanne came in and saw, but she didn't get angry. Instead they lit the candle and sat there for awhile, holding each other in silence. It made me cry, to know that after a year and half, they still miss me so much.

I could feel so many more emotions than I feel right now; I could feel hurt, or jealous, or angry, or wronged, or any number of combinations. But in the end, I only feel proud and happy for my old friends, and in this instance, I'm behind Fate 100%.

I loved Megamind, and he loved me, but in the end, he doesn't need me. He doesn't need someone who's crazy, who'd die a thousand times over so he could live once, an anti-social writer with a tendency to be too nice or too apologetic.

No. He needs someone who's witty, nosy, someone who knows everything there is to know about sociality, someone who doesn't fear going against the plan, but won't completely ignore it because she thinks she has a better idea of what to do.

As much as I love him, Megamind doesn't need me. What Megamind needs is Roxanne.

And Fate has always known that.

**Author Comments:**

**AAAANNNDDD...Scene! :D Thus ends the story of A Different Path. If you didn't figure it out, this here is Maggie talking to you about after she died. Not my best work, but I think it turned out pretty good in the end. What do you think? And of course, Roxanne ended up with Megamind, because that is the way the world must be properly balanced. :)**

**The Theme Song for this story (and Maggie Maddison) would have to be "She's A Rebel" by Greenday. :)**


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